


Fifth time's the charm

by Tayani



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gift Fic, Kissing, Lovestruck Boys, M/M, Oblivious Goro, Pining, Silly, Sojiro Has Had Enough of This Shit, Unrealistic Reactions to Coffee Temperatures, look it's cute and silly just read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 14:28:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16599662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tayani/pseuds/Tayani
Summary: Four times Goro failed to be invited up to Akira's attic, and the one time he actually went there.





	Fifth time's the charm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nmaliz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nmaliz/gifts).



Akira Kurusu lived on Leblanc’s attic; and no matter how hard Goro tried to deny it, he’s been getting increasingly frustrated by the fact he seemed to be the only person in the bloody universe who hasn’t been yet invited up there.

It wasn’t, of course, that it mattered. Of course not. Akira was simply someone Goro had met, by accident, during that interview at the TV station. The raven proved to be quite interesting, and alright, perhaps Goro enjoyed talking with him. And looking at him. And standing in his general vicinity.

Maybe he started spending a little more time than strictly needed on the Shibuya train station, just so that they could bump into one another, sometimes. Very occasionally. Maybe. So what? Akira was good company, and someone who actually treated Goro as another human being, as opposed to an idol, or a child, or a celebrity. Plus, he had very nice arms, and hands, and his cheeks had these cute little dimples when he smiled – and he always smiled when he noticed Goro was there, and who _wouldn’t_ like it if someone smiled whenever they saw them?

It was only natural, then, that Goro enjoyed these, uh, completely random instances they bumped into one another. He’d even consider Akira his friend, and was positive Akira also considered him one. He had to, right? To be this happy to see him.

All that made Goro’s discovery of Leblanc all the better. He could now slip into the quiet café after work or after school, if he was lucky; enjoy a cup of coffee or two and the pleasant atmosphere of the place and await Akira come back and invite him to hang out. After all, with both of them obviously free for the evening, it would be only natural if they started talking, and eventually moved upstairs together. To, uh… watch a movie, perhaps. And perhaps not to watch a movie, too.

At least, that was the plan. Goro nodded to himself, finishing his second cup of coffee before turning on his seat to the sound of the doorbell. Akira was home; and he was ready to greet him and strike up a conversation. Goro even managed to as much as smile pleasantly, but then he noticed the dimples, the gentle smile, the sparks in Akira’s quicksilver eyes as he looked at him, and…

“Oh, hello, Kurusu-kun.” Goro said with the same smile, before turning back to his coffee, standing up, paying and marching right out of the café with hardly more than a wave to the raven-haired boy.

His heart didn’t stop hammering in his chest until he was three blocks away from Leblanc.

The second time went a little bit better, Goro would like to think. He sat in the café for a while already; half-focused on the sounds coming from the door on his right, waiting for Akira to come home. This time, he told himself, he won’t run away. There was nothing to run away from, after all. Akira will come in, smile that damn handsome smile of his and they will talk and laugh and perhaps they could go to the batting cages afterwards or maybe Akira will finally invite him up to that attic – the one Goro only heard about, the one all of Akira’s friends seemed to be constantly invited to, everyone except…

“Man, I’m pooped. Good I got all these snacks…”

The bell by the door rang, but before Goro could smile at Akira there, a tall, blond boy carrying all sorts of bags with all sorts of unhealthy snacks in them stepped inside, followed by Akira, who was laughing quietly; with a laughter he never really showed in front of Goro, soft and helpless and relaxed. The blond boy stilled and frowned at him, and Akira stopped laughing at once.

“Oh, it’s the Akechi-guy.” the blond boy hummed before walking towards the stairs. Akira smiled apologetically.

“I’m sorry for him. Akechi-san, um, would you—”

“I should go.” Goro said with a serene, plastic smile and stood up, nodding gratefully as Sojiro slipped him his receipt. On his way home, the brunet wondered how on earth was it fair, that _that_ guy could make Akira laugh that beautiful laugh – and he, Goro, could not…

 Third time was bound to be the charm, Goro decided. He came to Leblanc early, smiling at Sojiro as he has been served his favourite coffee right away, without even needing to order. The day was a rainy one, and with hot coffee, a book to read and the quiet sounds of the café as the background noise, Goro didn’t mind sitting in silence and relaxing.

Soon, his cup of coffee turned from one to two, then to five. By his tenth, Sojiro was looking worriedly at him and Goro could distinctly feel his hands shake and his heart do all sorts of weird things in his chest as he waited.

It took twelve cups of coffee for Akira to finally return home, and for Goro to greet him, stand up shakily and march past the visibly surprised raven, trying to maintain the pleasant smile on his face.

He managed to get back home before throwing up.

The fourth time Goro decided he was not going to _plan_ on striking up a conversation with Akira. It obviously wasn’t working well for him. He was just going to sit there; say hello and wait, and perhaps the raven will sit down and join him. He was not going to stress about this anymore. He’ll just… relax.

It worked, somewhat. Akira came home early that day, and smiled a strangely soft smile seeing Goro there; one that the detective didn’t have any troubles returning in kind. Slowly, as if not sure if Goro won’t just up and run off, like usual, Akira neared him and set his bag down on the seat beside him, opening his mouth to speak…

“…what, it’s _him_ again? Why does he keep coming here, of all places, and right when we were supposed to get some rest…” came a meow from the direction of Akira’s bag. Morgana’s head was sticking out from it, and Akira stared down at him, looking torn between wanting to laugh this meowy interruption off and strangling the cat. Goro knew very well how he felt at the moment, even if he did his best not to show he could actually understand what Morgana was saying… or that it hurt way more than it should have, to be told he was an unwelcome sight, after all.

“…ah, I…”

“Akechi-san, please don’t—”

“I need to go.” Goro smiled and stood up, his hair hiding his eyes from view. As he left, he didn’t notice the disappointed look Akira had; nor did he see him smacking Morgana over the head, or getting yelled at by Sojiro for doing so. Goro sighed, slumping down onto a free seat he found on his train home.

Maybe he should just give up. Obviously… he wasn’t really wanted at Leblanc.

For a few weeks afterwards, Goro was avoiding Yongen-Jaya as best he could. And not just Yongen-Jaya – he spotted Akira a few times over that time, either standing at the station, missing one train after another as he stared into space, distracted; by the bakery Goro enjoyed, on the central streets. Now that he tried to avoid him, Akira seemed to crop out in front of him every other hour.

Still, it was easy not to let them meet when out in town. Going to Leblanc again… that would be completely different. And yet, here Goro was, staring through the familiar glass door before sighing and pushing them open.

He tried to excuse himself with the tiring day he had today. Obviously Goro wouldn’t have went back at all, were it not for the fact Boss made, objectively, the best coffee in whole of Tokyo, right? And Goro became way too addicted to Leblanc’s home blend for him to survive for too long on Starbucks instead. With a sheepish smile, he nodded at Boss welcoming him and sat down on his usual seat, waiting for the coffee and trying to gauge whether Akira was home already – or just about to come back.

His question has been answered soon, with the ring of the familiar bell; and a smile that was positively blinding this time around. Goro could hardly stop himself from getting lost in these bright, quicksilver eyes that crinkled in the corners when Akira saw him, and shone with something soft and sweet and entirely too beautiful to look away from. Goro hardly even acknowledged Boss setting his cup of coffee on the counter before him and only picked the cup up and brought it to his lips to busy himself with something.

“Welcome home, Kurusu-kun.”

“Honey, I’m home.” Akira answered with a playful smirk; only Goro couldn’t really appreciate it, because the cup he held in his hand bumped against his teeth and slipped from his fingers, and a whole cup of hot, freshly brewed coffee spilled down his shirt, making Goro yelp and almost fall off his chair. He looked down; his white shirt and tie were dark brown now; and his skin stung painfully where the coffee poured over. Boss was saying something in a somewhat panicked voice, and Akira skipped over, his arms on Goro’s shoulders and his voice soft and filled with worry.

“I’m so sorry… are you okay? Should we get you to a hospital, are you hurt?”

“N-no, no, it’s fine…” Goro answered through gritted teeth. “It wasn’t _that_ hot…”

“Your clothes, though… come on, come with me.”

Just as suddenly as they appeared there, Akira’s hands vanished from his shoulders; and the raven moved towards the stairs, smiling invitingly as Goro followed him, hardly believing his luck.

So all he had to do to be invited upstairs was to make a complete fool of himself and spill coffee over his shirt. Good to know.

The room they climbed up to wasn’t fancy, by any means. If Goro had to describe it quickly, words like _storage space_ , _cluttered_ and _old_ came to mind; and yet, in this small room without even a proper bed, Goro felt much more at home than at his own, soulless, lifeless apartment. This room maybe wasn’t comfortable or private, or even too tidy – but it was _lived in_. And it was very much _Akira_.

“If you could just… take these off, I’ll find you something to change into.” the raven mumbled, bending over some huge cardboard box set on one of the shelves; and Goro tried to pretend he didn’t blush as he walked a little bit more inside and turned his back to Akira, starting to take off his tie and unbuttoning his shirt.

“Thank you, Kurusu-kun. I’m sorry for causing you trouble.” he said, fighting with a particularly slippery button. He could hear a small, breathless laugh from behind himself and tried to ignore the strange sense of pride he felt for making Akira laugh.

“It’s no problem… I probably made you spill that coffee in the first place, so I should be apologizing.” Akira hummed. For a few seconds, they busied themselves each with their own thing, if the rustling from Akira’s side of the room was any indication; and then…

“…Akechi?”

No honorific. If not for the soft, wondering sound of Akira’s voice, Goro would have been terrified he made the raven angry somehow.

“Yes?”

“Why— say, do you… hate spending time with me?”

Goro has just slipped his stained shirt off; it has been carefully set on the chair nearby, together with the tie. At the question, though, he turned around; staring at Akira in surprise.

“…of course not. I think I have already established you are… uniquely interesting to me, Kurusu-kun. Why, I very much enjoy—”

“Then why do you always run away when I get home..?” Akira murmured, standing up. There was a grey T-shirt in his hand; looking nice and soft, even if a little bit worn, like everything the raven owned. Akira took a few steps towards Goro, and for a split second, the brunet wanted to run away yet again. He felt sick with anxiety, and yet… he couldn’t even move. There was something; something in Akira’s eyes that kept him in place.

“…I don’t know.” he whispered finally, feeling more stupid than ever. “I never mean to.”

For a moment, Akira just stared at him; and then, his eyes slid down, and a tiny laughter – a giggle, really – spilled from deep in his throat, and Goro felt like perhaps he doesn’t mind making a fool of himself. This laughter was… excessively pretty. It made something stir pleasantly inside him; like a hot wave over his body, pooling down in his stomach as Akira’s eyes seemed to slide over his very bare chest. Goro flushed, reaching out for the T-shirt; only to be stopped, when…

“…there’s coffee.” Akira whispered, staring at Goro’s chest. There were a few drops leftover there after the unfortunate spill; over the still sensitive, reddened skin, the slid slowly down; one was almost reaching his bellybutton. As if without thinking, Akira reached out his hand, and Goro sucked in a sharp breath as the raven brushed away the single drop and licked it off his thumb; eyes burning now, intense.

The heat in the pit of Goro’s stomach intensified. He felt himself swallow and step forward; Akira was so close now…

“…do you have any idea how long I waited to invite you up here?” Akira whispered; and then, his hands were in Goro’s hair and he was being yanked closer, into a kiss that tasted of coffee and that tasted _perfect_ , stealing his breath away. Goro groaned quietly; shuddering when Akira’s kisses moved; to the corner of his lips, down his neck and then over his chest – each runaway drop of coffee caught and licked and kissed away. By the time they were all gone, Goro could hardly do more but clasp a hand over his lips, trying to stop any sounds from escaping as his hips jerked into Akira’s own. All it took was to feel how hard the raven was for him, too, for Goro to groan quietly into the next kiss Akira pulled him into.

“…Boss’s downstairs…” he still managed to mumble, even as they clutched onto one another, even as Akira’s feverish hands touched him everywhere, so good, so _hot_ , so perfect on his bare skin. He could hear the raven whine; and then turn his head to the side, staring at Goro’s stained clothes.

“…washing cycle at the laundromats takes like… an hour. Leblanc’s gonna be closed by then.” he hummed quietly. Goro smiled; the hands, up until now threading through Akira’s hair, tugged on them softly.

“If I need to wait this long… I might miss the last train home.” he whispered. It was bullshit, of course, but it was as good an excuse as any.

“Good.” Akira whispered back, giving him a quick kiss. “Just don’t run away on me. Seriously… don’t ever run away.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you like my stories, you can find me on twitter [@mikan_writings](https://twitter.com/mikan_writings) and/or tumblr at [mikan_writings](https://mikan-writings.tumblr.com/)!


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